Abstract [en]

We explore the link between invention and innovation on the one hand and the level of economic activity and economic growth in Sweden by using patents granted and the quality of patens as our indicators of invention and innovation respectively. Our results indicate that both types of measures are able to explain the level and the changing levelof economic activity equally well. However, an important difference is that the economic activity is affected differently by the two measures. We find that inventions have the strongest marginal effect in regions where economic activity is the highest. Instead, innovations have similar marginal effects across regions with different economic activity. Our interpretation is that quality-adjusted patents sort out "bad" from "good" patents in a manner which reflect economic importance.